SHILLONG, May 4: The Opposition has picked holes in the state government’s optimistic portrayal of Meghalaya’s power situation, bringing to light the grim realities unfolding in the rural expanse of Garo Hills, where prolonged power cuts, sometimes stretching over six days, have become a harrowing norm.
Painting a stark picture of neglect and suffering, TMC MLA from Rajabala, Mizanur Rahman Kazi, revealed, “See, it is not only in my constituency. To be very honest with you, I don’t know about the urban areas, but the whole rural belt of Garo Hills is suffering. There is loss of power for five days, six days, or sometimes even more. People are suffering.”
He described how repeated outages have crippled daily life.
According to him, farmers, unable to irrigate their fields, are watching crops wither, students struggle to study in the dark, and small industries face repeated shutdowns due to the lack of electricity.
“It has been happening rampantly across the plain belt area, but my constituency is the worst hit,” he said.
Despite repeatedly raising the matter with the district administration and Power Minister AT Mondal, Kazi said the response has been nothing short of apathetic. “He told me the problem will be solved. But unfortunately, till date, nothing has been sorted out, and people are suffering a lot,” he revealed.
Frustration was evident as he accused the power department of being unresponsive. “They don’t even pick up the calls. Even if there is a small, minor fault, there are no linemen to rectify the issue,” he said.
Kazi lashed out at the glaring disconnect between government assurances and the ground reality.
Recalling the recently concluded Budget Session, he said the government had projected a picture of stability, claiming there was no load shedding.
“Lot of things were told, but on ground, except maybe the urban areas, in rural areas there is no change at all. We are having both scheduled and unscheduled power cuts throughout the day. Not even a single day is free of power cut,” he said, adding that the situation has deteriorated further in the last month and a half.
He questioned the wisdom of the department’s long-term timelines, calling the situation an emergency.
“If you take one to two years, people cannot wait for one year. Power is an essential service. Essential service cannot wait for long. I had requested the Minister that please try to do something at the earliest for the benefit of the people,” he urged.
As the government continues to issue reassurance, the Opposition has made it clear that the people of Garo Hills are still living in darkness both literally and in terms of state response.
